I'm not really sure though, it was a tough call. I did love FotR (seen it twice) and I intend to see it again this week. In FotR the acting was great, the effects were great.....but TPM is Star Wars.

FotR is certainly a lot darker. I think Darth Maul is cool, and the end duel is tense, but in terms of emotional involvement for the viewer I don't think it really compares with the hobbits being pursued by the Nazgul (or Ringwraiths or Black Riders, whichever you prefer). Also, the end when Samwise follows Frodo (trying to say the bit I mean without spoiling it for people who haven't seen it yet), that is far more moving to me than QGJ dying (oops, sorry, spoilers! )

Anyway, in terms of Darkness and emotion we will have to see how AotC and ep III shape up.

FotR is great but I see it as tiding me over till AotC. Can't wait for The Two Towers, too. I want to see the Ents!

While I loved FotR I hope Jackson doesn't mess TTT about too much. He did a good job with FotR but I didn't like how he got rid of Glorfindel so that Arwen could get a bigger part. Flight to the Ford was one of my favourite bits in the book:
"Fly Frodo, the Enemy is upon us! Noro lim, noro lim, Asfaloth!"

Jedi_Jewl, you're looking forward to TTT more than AotC!?! You must be a BIG LotR fan!

LotR was too weepy. Nobody could stop crying! I know that sounds petty but it's a real beef with me. Plus you could start to feel the three hour running time in your butt after a while. It tended to drag in places.

And I thought that wizard fight was gulldamn hillarious. Sadly, I don't think it was intentional.

Sure TPM has its issues but I just thought it was more fun to watch. You say cheezy dialogue? I say fun dialogue! Plus Sidious is far more evil than Saruman. He played both sides for fools and he's the only one who knows it!

TPM, you stupid nincompoops! THE...*****NG.... PHANTOM...MENACE! I loved both movies, but I liked TPM more because it is STAR WARS and STAR WARS fans on a STAR WARS website should talk about STAR WARS and not LORD OF THE RINGS. LOTR is already done with its huge run at the box office....about 280 million last time I checked, and about 9th in the box office. Ha! 'Tis mere pennies compared to The Phantom Menace. Oh yea, the music in TPM was better, too.....then again there was that Jar Jar character......and Jar Jar......and did I forget to mention Jar Jar? Honestly, even as a Tolkien fan, I am saying that LOTR has had its huge media extravaganza, but now its over, and everyone is looking forward to AOTC, Austin Powers 3, etc. Leave the topics alone!

Is it just me, or are most of the people who voted for FOTR people who just registered (this is my 3rd account, due to numerous complaints about the similarity of my name to other users' - does Boba_Fettish ring a bell? yea that was me but everyone thought I was someone else, damn them...)?

LoTR was not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination - the story was weak with nothing to grab my attention.
Compared with The Hobbit, it's a big let down.
Maybe the hype was too much.

My cousin thought the same thing.

In relation to TPM, it's a clean environment because this takes place in civilised locales (Coruscant, Theed) as well as other rougher environments like Mos Espa.
Every time I see the TPM on DVD it just gets better and better.
TPM: all the way

I'd have to go for LotR because While TPM was cool, and it had Ewan ( ), Anakin was so... lame. (i know it's a frequent complaint) I am looking forward to AotC as much as TTT now, considering the fact that I hope Hayden will be better than Jake.

I'm not Sifu's cousin, but I agree with him all the way! FOTR was the biggest dissapointment I ever sat through (not worst movie, but it certainly didn't live up the hype the fans created). With the exception of Bilbo, I hated every single one of those damn hobbits. The four main ones got on my nerves in practically every scene they appeared. I don't remember much about the elves (although that guy with bow and arrows kicked some ass) or even the humans (it took too way long for that one to die at the end though), but I did like the wizards. Ian and Christopher were the only enjoyable parts of that movie ('cept for that queer scene when they were throwing each other around...I don't remember that from the book, and it looked like it came stright out of Willow).

So, while TPM may not be the best Star Wars flick, I ceratinly enjoyed it the first time I saw it and like it even more with every viewing.

I love both series and would have a very hard time putting LoTR in front of any of the OT, but I'm going to base this on the fact that after anticipating both movies, TPM left me slightly disappointed while LoTR was a more fulfilling movie experience. I just hope that AOTC rises above its title and doesn't leave me wishing Lucas had either quit while he was ahead or gave creative control of his franchise to Jackson.